OTTAWA - Canada's health care system offers "excellent value for the money" says a British researcher who has studied preventable deaths in 19 industrialized nations.

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The study, which looked at figures from 2002-03, updated a similar report based on 1997-98 figures. Its goal was to compare amenable deaths in the United States with 14 western European nations, plus Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan.

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In the first study, the researchers found that amenable deaths in the U.S. stood at 114.74 per 100,000 population, exceeded only by Ireland, Portugal, Finland and the United Kingdom.

In that time period, Canada's amenable mortality rate was 88.77 -- the seventh-lowest rate after France, Japan, Spain, Australia, Sweden and Italy. In the most recent study, Canada's amenable death rate had dropped to 76.83, putting Canada sixth after France, Japan, Australia, Spain and Italy.

Meanwhile, amenable mortality rates in the U.S. have barely budged from 114.74 to 109.65 in 2002-03, taking the U.S. from 15th place to last place among the 19 countries.

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More importantly, outcomes in Canada are improving more quickly than those in the U.S., he said.

"Given that the U.S health care system is far more expensive, this suggests that Canadians are getting excellent value for money."